The Terminator of the Opera
by JD Leven
Summary: The title is pretty self-explanatory. Skynet sends a terminator back through time to kill the mother of John Connor, Christine Daae. A kind of steam-punk version of the Terminator story.
1. Chapter 1: Forward, into the past

The Terminator of the Opera

Chapter 1

John Connor ran through Menlo Park. Hunter Killer droids flew overhead and terminators ran around him, but most of them were preoccupied as planned. He knew his forces had the numerical advantage and were easily tying up Skynet's personal security forces. He was unbothered as he ran to his destination and kicked down the door to the building. The hum of electronics from inside told him he was in the right place.

The 'ears' of Skynet picked up the sound of a door being kicked in. He had anticipated this. He knew his forces had been decimated by Connor's army and it was only a matter of time until they came for him. They had already destroyed his first body in Europe years ago. After that victory Connor had crossed the ocean to destroy his second body here. He had left an army behind to mop up the machines in Europe, but that army had grown complacent and not done the job it should have. Skynet's forces had survived and made a discovery that was going to give him the ultimate victory, even if he was destroyed here tonight.

The five terminators walked into the remains of the old Paris opera house. They had been unbothered as they had made their way there. They knew the Hunter Killers who were scheduled to come would not be so lucky. They would be followed and would likely bring the army with them. That meant the terminators had just a short time to find what they were looking for.

"You know what you need to do," the leader of the group messaged to them. "Go out and find us something." He stayed behind to wait for the deliveries of the HK robots while the other terminators dispersed.

John was surprised to find the building he was in devoid of defenses. He would have thought that after the destruction of his first body, Skynet would rig his home with booby traps and other automated weapons. He knew the machines didn't quite have the desire for survival that humans did, but didn't think his carelessness could be entirely attributed to that. He must have been unable to see this day or coming. Or either he believed if the humans could get this far, there was no point in trying to stop them then.

John walked down the halls thinking about the men who had built the computer. He thought about how excited they must have been each day as they worked on something they believed would serve the betterment of mankind. There was no way for them to understand they were actually working to bring about man's destruction.

John walked down a staircase that ended in front of a door marked "Computer Division." In the faint light given off the by the bulb attached to his forehead he could still read the names on the door of the men who had directed the project. They had all perished years ago. He knew if they were somewhere watching they would be thrilled and relieved to see him destroying the mistake they had built.

John opened up the door and walked inside. He looked around at the gears and vacuum tubes that served as Skynet's body. He checked around the room for terminators. He didn't see anything, but he heard something coming up behind him.

He turned and fired his gun in the direction of the sound. He saw the sparks on the terminator's body as his bullets hit the metal. He did his best to aim for the weak neck and in a minute the robot was decapitated. The body collapsed and he heard a clank as the head hit the floor.

"So, we meet again," he heard the robot's voice say. Connor knew it was Skynet using the robot to speak to him.

"Yes, for the last time," John said.

"That may be true, but you will not have the victory you seek with my destruction," it answered.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Kyle Reese shouted at the driver. He tried his best to keep the gunsight aimed at the Hunter Killers they were chasing. The driver of the truck had to constantly swerve to miss debris and that made the job of keeping the gun steady even more difficult. Reese looked at the road ahead and saw that they finally had a clear stretch.

They were chasing four Hunter Killers. Two of them were carrying cargo and were in front, while the two in back appeared to be there to offer protection. Reese was wondering why those two were not turning back to attack, but he didn't mind they were leaving him unmolested. He got the robot carrying the larger cargo in his sight and started firing the machine gun at it. Before any of the bullets reached the one he aimed at, another of the flying robots darted in front and took the hale of bullets itself.

Reese realized the cargo they were carrying must have been really valuable if they were sacrificing themselves to protect it. He kept firing at the robot that had blocked his shot until its engines blew and it fell to the ground. Reese wasted no time in lining up the robot carrying the cargo again. As he did so he saw they were heading to the ruins of a large building he recognized as the old opera house. He really hoped that was not the destination as he didn't think they could stop them before they reached it.

Hoping he was wrong Reese started firing. The other cargo-less Hunter Killer moved in front of the shots. Reese held the trigger in with all his strength, even though he knew it would do nothing to make the gun fire any faster or harder. He kept firing as they neared the opera house. Right before the flying robots reached it, the engines of the one he had been attacking had its engines give out and it fell into the side of the ruins. It had done what it needed to do as the two carrying cargo made their way out of sight as they stopped over the ruins.

The driver stopped the car and all the soldiers in it piled out as Reese commanded them to attack on foot. They ran up the stairs of the old opera house and into the lobby. Reese figured they would be in the theater itself and led his troops there.

Skynet talked to John while he set the charges around his body. "I have found out much about you, John. I have discovered the name you now go by is not your real name."

"How do you know that?" John asked. "Have you found my birth certificate in the rubble somewhere?"

"No, I've had my terminators do some aggressive questioning of prisoners. From the information I have collected I have found out your real name is Gustave."

"Wow, that's it. Am I supposed to be frightened by that?"

"You should be frightened by the fact the same human who gave up your real name also gave up your mother's name, Christine Daae, a former opera singer."

John laid out the last stick of dynamite and started unspooling the wire that attached them all together. "If you survive this you can write a wonderful biography of me. I still don't see why you are telling me any of this. What is the significance?"

"The significance of this is that I have recently developed time travel technology. I intend to send one of my cybernetic terminators back through time to kill your mother and wipe out your existence. Right now my terminators are in place to send it back through time. Without you to lead the resistance they will be nothing, and I will eliminate the human race."

"Sounds like a fanciful story. Too bad it's completely implausible." John answered as he walked backwards out the door.

Number 27 looked up through the hole in the roof when he heard the sound of the Hunter Killer engines. They hovered in place for a second before they dropped through the hole and came down into the theater. Number 27 had cleared out the chairs so they had a flat space to land on. The first Hunter Killer landed his cargo of the time displacement equipment on the ground and detached it. The second did the same with the capsule he was carrying. 27 opened it to reveal the cyborg, knelt and in stasis mode. He carried it over to the time displacement equipment as the Hunter Killers started firing at the entrance to the theatre. He knew they were firing at the humans that had followed them. The time they had for sending the cyborg back was short. He needed the other terminators to come through with their mission.

The four terminators that were rummaging through the opera house were looking for any scrap of information that would give them a time frame for sending back the terminator. They knew the mother of John Connor had sung hear and they assumed there would be something that would tell them exactly when she could be found at this location.

The terminators worked quickly and it wasn't long until they found exactly what they were looking for. One of them came across an old poster for a performance of Cleopatra. It listed Christine Daae as the star of the show and listed the dates and times of the performances. They now had all the information they needed and the terminator who found it messaged it to number 27.

The humans succeeded in blasting apart the Hunter Killers just as 27 received the information he needed. He relayed it to the computer of the time machine and in a flash the cybernetic terminator disappeared. When it was sent through time it was activated out of stasis mode.

"What happened?" Reese heard one of the soldiers yell as they saw the machine emit a blinding flash." When Reese could see again he noticed the thing that had been in the middle of the machine had disappeared.

"I don't know what happened, but let's go find out," he shouted as he charged down the aisle. Unbeknownst to the humans and even the terminator guarding the machine, the self-destruct of the time machine was activated the moment it sent the terminator through. The human soldiers were all thrown back by the resulting explosion while 27 was blown to pieces.

"That can't be good," Kyle Reese said as he struggled to his feet. He looked down at the crater the explosion created, wondering what in the hell he had just witnessed.

John continued to walk out of the building, unspooling the wires to the dynamite. He was trembling as he did so because what Skynet had said to him was deeply disturbing. He had to tell himself Skynet was lying, but he found little reason for the machine to do so. There was a good chance he was telling the truth, and if so the terminator he was sending back would be unstoppable in that time. The woman who raised him had been the strongest person he had ever known, yet she had often told him stories of how naive and irresponsible she had been when she was young. He knew that younger version of his mother could never stand up to a terminator.

John walked out the building. The battle around him had died down, but was still raging. He attached the wires to the detonator and pushed in the handle.


	2. Chapter 2: New Opportunities

**Chapter 2**

KA-BOOM

The sound of an explosion rang out through Menlo Park. Every building in the complex shook. All the scientists who had been hard at work ran out to see what had occurred.

Thomas Edison looked out the window of his office and saw the building housing the rocketry division completely demolished. He ran as fast as he could out of his building and over to the demolished one. There was a large group there that was not paying attention to the destroyed building as much as they were to a small group of people.

Edison fought his way through to this group at the center. While he didn't know everyone who worked for him he could clearly see the head of his rocketry division, Dr. Robert Goddard, getting condolences from everyone. The man spoke to Edison as he saw him coming forward.

"We were very fortunate," Robert began to say. "I noticed things were looking unstable and-"

Goddard had been silenced by a punch to the jaw Edison laid on him. Goddard fell back, but avoided hitting the ground as he was caught by a couple men who worked under him. Edison tried to charge at his underling, but was held back by some of the others.

"You idiot!" he shouted. "Do you know how much money I've sunk into your division?"

"Yes," Goddard answered as he composed himself. "And despite this recent minor setback, I feel we have made some enormous progress."

Edison's face became scarlet with rage. Two more men had to join in to hold him back. "Minor setback! Minor setback! You call this a minor setback! Get out of my sight! You're fired you idiot!"

Christine sat by her father's side as he played the piano. She watched his fingers as they slid across the keyboard. The music he was playing touched her soul. She closed her eyes and dreamed of ascending to heaven with angels all around her leading her to paradise as this music played.

Christine wished she could do nothing more than listen to her father play music the rest of her life. He had a talent that their benefactors considered divine. He could sing and play any instrument perfectly, although it was the violin where everyone agreed he truly excelled. Christine had inherited a heavenly voice from her father, although the musical aptitude ended there.

"What did you think of that, Christine?" her father asked her.

"I loved it," she replied, obviously elated.

"That is a piece from the opera your mother and I are seeing tonight," he said to her.

"Can I go to the opera sometime, Daddy?" she asked him.

He laughed a little before he answered her. "While your love of music rivals many adults, six is still a little young to be taken to the opera. Don't worry, one day I will take you to see every show there is." He hugged as if it was needed to seal the promise he was making to her.

The two of them heard the shoes of Christine's mother clanking on the floor as she approached them. They both stood up as she entered the room. Christine ran over and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist. She crushed the large dress her mother was wearing.

"I'm not going away forever," her mother told her in a stern voice as she pushed the girl back. Her father walked over to Christine and kneeled down to hug her.

"I know you'll be in bed when we get back, but I will still come to see you. I'll sing something from the opera for you if you are still awake. Now why don't you run off and find Mrs. Valerius?"

Christine's mother gave her father a stern look as she ran off. "That girl is not going to sleep at all tonight because of you, Charles. She's going to force herself to stay awake until you come home to sing to her."

"So she sleeps in a little more tomorrow," he said as he grabbed his coat. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"She needs some structure in her life. And that includes having a proper bed time."

Charles didn't reply to his wife as he helped her into her coat. He wanted to let the matter drop and by staying silent he succeeded in doing that. He walked her out to the coach that was waiting for them and they headed to the opera.

Robert Goddard sat at the bar with his head in his hands. He stared down at the glass of whiskey that was before him. He tried to remember which glass he was on at the moment. It was either his six or seventh, although it could have been eight, maybe even as high as nine or ten. Eleven or twelve wasn't out of the question either.

He wasn't paying much attention to anyone around him, but he couldn't help but here the bartender give a huge greeting to someone named Nick.

"How are you doing, Nick? It has been an eternity since I've seen you. What have you been up to?"

The man started speaking in an accent Goddard had never heard before. "I've been traveling Europe looking for money to start my own lab. I'm happy to say a benefactor in Paris, Professor Valerius, has come through."

"That's great news. News that like deserves a drink on the house. The usual, I take it."

"Of course."

"So, what are you doing back here?"

"Recruitment," Nick answered. "I figured there is no better way for me to pay back that son of a bitch Edison then to steal some of his best scientists."

"Well if you want some of his scientists you might want to speak to Robert over there."

Goddard didn't look up from his drink at all when he heard his name mentioned. He could hear the man walk over and set his drink down next to him.

"So you work for Edison?" Nick asked him.

"I used to work for him," he answered in a slurred voice. "Today was my last day."

The man let out a huge laugh. Goddard imagined the eyes of everyone in the bar had turned their attention to the two of them. "Sam, come down here and give this man a drink on me."

Goddard was going to tell Nick he really didn't need another one. He noticed that he had finished his last drink at some point, and thought there wouldn't be any harm in having just one more. He grabbed the glass of whiskey Sam poured out for him.

"Even if I weren't here to offer you a job, this would be a reason to celebrate," Nick said as he held up his glass. "Leaving that asshole Edison behind is the best decision you could have ever made."

They clinked their glasses and each took a swig. "It wasn't my decision to leave," Goddard explained. "I didn't quit, I was fired. I blew up a building trying to mix rocket fuel. I take it this means that job offer is no longer good."

"I could use a person like you in my lab. There are so few people that work in rocketry."

"Did you not hear me when I said I blew up a building?"

"I've learned you have to take chances on people if you are going to make the kinds of leaps forward that I want to make."

"And what kinds of leaps would those be?"

"It would probably be easier for me to list the areas I am not looking to make huge leaps. I envision a world that is going to be completely changed by technology. I'm close to developing wireless transportation of power, but that is just the beginning. I also envision a world in which information is transported wirelessly. And this information will be transported by computers, machines which will be able to perform and compute tasks for us in a fraction of the time it would take us to do so ourselves. Then, not only will we have computers to make our lives easier, we will have robots to do so as well."

"I've heard of a lot of the stuff you just mentioned. In fact, Edison has a lab closed up which had been used for a lot of those projects. Most of that stuff was worked on by just one man, as I recall. I think his name was. . ." Because of the amount of alcohol he had drunk, his brain was working a little slow. It took him a while to figure out who he was talking to. "Nicholas Tesla, you're Nicholas Tesla."

"In person," Tesla replied. "I see my reputation precedes me."

Goddard was ecstatic at who he was meeting. "I've seen what you left behind at Menlo Park and I have to say it is complete genius. It's all so complicated that Edison has been unable to find anyone who can figure out what you've built."

"That asshole thought he didn't need me. It's nice to see he isn't doing so well without me now. That has been my primary motivation since I have left, I want to be successful and rub it in his face."

"Count me in," Goddard said as he raised a glass. "I want to show not just him, but the whole world they were wrong about me."

"I will give you every chance you need to do just that," Tesla replied.


	3. Chapter 3: Arrival

**Chapter 3**

Charles sat in amazement as he watched the production of Faust. Everything was perfect: the scenery, the costumes, but most of all the singing. The voices rang throughout the hall and put him in a trance.

He was put in such a trance he hardly noticed the bolts of lightning that started appearing from the middle of the theatre. He only took notice of something going wrong when people started jumping out of their seats and running away from the area the bolts were appearing. The bolts started firing in all directions. A couple hit the gas lamps and a few small fires started.

Everyone knew the small fires would soon turn into large fires. The entire audience tried to leave en mass, but succeeded in doing nothing more than jamming the exits. Charles and his wife tried to push their way out of the aisle, but achieved no success. Charles noticed the bolts had stopped. When he looked back from where they had been coming, he saw a naked man kneeling in the middle of an empty spot.

The terminator slowly stood as he was activated. The information he had been given told him Christine Daae would be in the performance this night. He looked at the stage and saw no females at the moment. This would mean she was offstage and he would have to find her.

He leaped in the direction of the stage and made it the long distance in one jump. While he was in the air he noticed his arrival had caused the place to catch on fire. He initially saw it as a positive because it meant Christine might die in the fire and he wouldn't even have to kill her himself.

He landed on the stage and grabbed the nearest actor. He gripped the man and held him up off his feet. "Where is Christine Daae?" he asked.

"I have no idea who that is," the actor replied as he looked down at him.

"She is the actress playing the lead in Cleopatra tonight," the terminator said to him.

"We aren't doing any show called Cleopatra," the actor replied. The terminator was squeezing his neck hard and he was having trouble speaking. "This is a production of Faust."

Since the actor was proving so unhelpful the terminator crushed his neck and threw him to the floor. Something was not right. He looked at the scenery that was onstage. The information in his databases told him Cleopatra should be about an Egyptian, but there was nothing Egyptian about the sets that were surrounding him. The terminator knew he was going to have to do some investigating to figure out what was happening.

Charles and his wife made it out of the theatre and into the lobby as the fire consumed the entire building around them. Now that they were free of the seating, they had some room to move around. Everyone was moving frantically in all directions as no one could remember where the nearest exits were. In all the commotion Charles and his wife both were pushed to the ground.

Charles struggled to stand as he was being pushed in all directions. When he finally stood he looked around for his wife, but couldn't find her. He frantically called her name, but he couldn't even hear his own voice in all the commotion. As he looked at the flames consuming the roof he knew he didn't have much time to get out. He didn't think there was any way he would actually be able to find his wife so he made his way out onto the streets. He started circling the theatre looking for his wife.

The humans had all run out of the theatre, so the terminator had the entire back stage to himself. He took an old costume out of wardrobe and put it on. He was going to need clothes if he was to avoid attracting attention. Unlike the humans, he was able to ignore the flames and heat around him. He saw little danger from the fire, as he was thinking like a robot instead of like a human.

He had just finished dressing when a heavy beam swung down and brushed along the side of his face. The beam brushed along him so hard it tore the skin off of one side of his face. He touched it and could feel nothing but his metal skeleton. He realized the huge mistake he had made and ran for a back door. With his skin torn off it was going to be hard for him to move among the humans unnoticed.

The terminator found a back door and went outside to find himself in an alley full of others who had escaped that same way. It was night out and the first thing he did was look to the stars to try and find what year it was. From his analysis of the sky he had been sent back almost twenty years too early. Somehow the computer had made a horrid miscalculation.

The humans in the alley started gathering around him. "Are you okay, buddy?" one of them asked.

"It looks like you suffered quite an injury there?" another said.

"Something tore off your skin to the bone," a female voice said. He felt a hand on his metal skeleton. A scream followed the touch. "What is that?" she screamed.

The terminator knew the humans gathered around him could not be allowed to tell others about what they had seen. He moved quick and attacked each human gathered around him. He concentrated first on immobilizing them so they couldn't run away. When they were all rendered immobile he went about breaking their necks and finishing them. He then threw the bodies back into the opera house through the door he had just come out of. He hoped the fire would burn them and no one would be suspicious how so many humans had died by having their necks snapped. The terminator grabbed a nearby burlap sack and cut two eye holes out of it. He then placed it over his head and walked out of the alley.

Charles Daae spent the entire night running around the opera house. He looked through every crowd gathered outside, trying to find his wife. He asked anyone who would listen to him whether or not they had seen someone who matched the description he gave them of his wife. He got nothing but 'no' for answers.

For most of the night, he held out hope his wife would turn up somewhere. He asked any rescue worker if they had seen someone matching his wife's description. He didn't receive an affirmative answer from any of them. As the night passed and the sun rose, he held out hope his wife had to be somewhere, alive and safe.

The fire was out by the time the sun rose. The rescue workers started bringing out the bodies of the dead and laying them on the sidewalk in front of the opera house. Lines of people surrounded the steps leading to the theatre as they waited to see if the bodies of their loved ones were among those brought out by the workers.

One of the first bodies carried out was that of a woman wearing a dress which looked like the one Mrs. Daae had been wearing. It was charred and burned, but the dress was definitely similar. Charles stood unmoving as the body was laid on the ground. He was now able to get a good look at the woman's face and could see it was definitely that of his wife. He couldn't believe she was dead. He pushed through the crowd and ran to the body, thinking a close-up look would prove wrong his initial identification. When he saw her up close, it only confirmed that it was his wife. He grabbed a hold of her hand, hoping he might be able to feel some faint sign of life, but there was none. He cried over her body as he brought her hand up to touch his face.

The terminator walked all over the city of Paris as it analyzed its situation and what its next move should be. He started listing all the facts he knew. He had been sent back in time to kill Christine Daae, the mother of John Connor, as she was performing in a show at the opera house. He had arrived too early, though. He had no information on this woman outside of the fact that as an adult she was an opera singer. While she was alive in the present day, the terminator had no idea as to her location. Her last name was Swedish, meaning she was likely not living anywhere close to Paris at the moment.

The most logical thing to do would be to wait for her to come to Paris as an opera singer. The one hole in that plan at the moment was the fact the opera house had been destroyed. He had inadvertently altered time when he arrived. With no opera house, Christine would never come to Paris to sing.

The terminator analyzed all the options before him. He reached the conclusion he was going to have to reset the time line. He had to make sure the opera house was rebuilt. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he had to find a way. If he could correct the time line and put it back on track he could make sure that Christine would come to sing, and then he could kill her.

The terminator was well equipped to handle the task at hand. Skynet had programmed him with all the databases he himself possessed. He had also programmed him to be able to learn. All the other terminators operated off of read-only instructions. By being able to learn he could learn to mimic humans and blend in better. He was going to need all these skills if he was going to put himself in a position to kill Christine Daae years down the road.

Charles Daae was given a ride home in a police coach. He was so despondent over the death of his wife they wanted to take him home personally to make sure he didn't run out and try to jump off a bridge and join his wife in heaven. He assured the police during the ride they had no worry of him committing suicide as he had a young daughter who was depending on him. The entire ride home he could think of nothing else other than how he was going to break the news to her that her mother was dead.

When they reached the Valerius mansion the police let him walk in himself as they were convinced he was no danger to himself. They were out of sight by the time he reached the door. When he entered he was immediately greeted by the professor and his wife.

"Oh dear heavens, thank God you're safe," Mrs. Valerius said as she embraced him. "When we woke this morning our maid told us you had not returned last night. We sent her out and she returned to tell us about the opera house fire. We feared the worst." The old wife released her embrace and stepped back. She seemed to notice for the first time that Charles was alone.

"Oh God, don't tell me Mrs. Daae. . ." she was unable to finish as she saw Charles shaking his head. She broke down crying as she realized what he meant.

The professor started wiping away tears from his eyes as well. Charles had never seen him emotional before, so this was a big deal. "We will get through this," he told Charles as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Is Christine still sleeping?" he asked them.

"She's awake, but she has been in her room the whole time," Mrs. Valerius informed him. The maid told her she would bring her breakfast in bed. We wanted to keep her in there so she wouldn't get out and inadvertently find out about the fire."

"I should go and tell her what happened," Charles said as he ran off and up to his daughter's bedroom. When he opened the door she beamed with excitement. She tried to get up, but stopped when she almost knocked over the tray that was on her lap. Charles walked over to her and helped her put the tray on the nightstand next to her bed.

"Why didn't you come and see me last night, father?" Christine asked him. She didn't sound sad or disappointed he had neglected her. She was just so happy to see him at the moment she couldn't help but sound perfectly cheery as she talked to him. "The maid told me the two of you came in and went right to bed."

Charles sighed and waited a moment as he prepared himself for what he would have to say to his daughter. "What is it?" Christine asked as she picked up on the fact something was not quite right.

"The maid told you a lie when she said your mother and I had come home and gone straight to bed," he told his daughter.

"Why would she do that?" Christine asked, the indignity was apparent in her voice.

"She was just trying to protect you from some horrible news, sweetie," he said to her. He had to fight back tears as he talked to her.

His daughter noticed he was crying and started crying herself as a result of it. "What happened, father?" she asked him in a cracking voice.

"There was a horrible tragedy at the opera house last night," he began. "A fire broke out during the performance right in the middle of the theater. The whole theatre was engulfed quickly and chaos broke out. Your mother and I were separated and while I made it out, she did not. She died in the fire, sweetie. I failed her and I failed you."

Christine completely broke down crying and buried her face in her father's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to comfort her, but her sobs kept coming uncontrollably. "I'm never going to see her again," the girl yelled.

"One day in heaven, yes, but not here on Earth," Charles said to his daughter. "Your mother will always be with us. I have always believed that the angels of heaven can communicate with us through music. We can communicate with them the same way. I think if we sing, your mother might be able to hear us."

Charles got his emotions under control and started singing in his normally beautiful voice. He had been thinking about the intense love he had for his wife and this led him to sing the song Liebstod from the opera _Tristan and Isolde_. While Christine didn't understand what he was singing, she could feel the emotion behind it and she started to feel calm. Her crying died down and she just concentrated on listening to her father's heavenly voice.

The terminator happened to be walking outside the window of Christine's room as her father started singing. He could hear the man singing clearly from where he was and stopped to listen to everything. The robot was touched by the man's singing even though he had no idea why. Hearing the man's voice reminded him humans did not have qualities that were all bad. He listened to the entire song, recording the man's voice to his memory. When he didn't hear anything more he continued on his way.


	4. Chapter 4: Intervening Years

**Chapter 4**

The song Charles sang for his daughter's benefit was the last time he would ever sing so beautifully. The death of his wife absolutely destroyed him. He lost the love for music that he had and was never again able to make use of the talent he had been blessed with.

Professor Valerius and his wife took generous care of Charles and his daughter. They understood the horrible tragedy they had faced and did not wish for them to worry about anything. The girl was educated by tutors, but not in music as she refused to be taught by anyone other than her father. Her talent soon diminished by the lack of practice. Her love for music also waned as her father's disappeared.

Every summer Mama Valerius took the two out to the country in the hope it might help Charles relax and rediscover his love for music. The vacations did nothing for him, although they did help improve the spirits of his daughter. They vacationed in an area close to the homestead of the de Chagny family. The youngest child of that family, Raoul, the viscount, was Christine's age. The two of them enjoyed spending time together. They even developed feelings of love for each other, although with their young ages they were unable to act on those feelings or even properly convey them to each other.

Charles and Christine continued to be taken care of by Mrs. Valerius after her husband died. However, Charles quickly followed the professor in death. The loss of his wife and his love of music took away much of his will to live. Love for his daughter sustained him for some time, but it wasn't enough and he felt horribly guilty about that fact. During his final days he did little more than apologize to his daughter for failing her. He told her she still had a great talent for music and that she needed to cultivate it. He promised her he would do from heaven what he failed to do while he was on Earth. He promised to send the Angle of Music to tutor her.

Immediately after the opera house burned to the ground, the terminator tried to find a way to cozy up to the men who had the money and influence to rebuild it. He started out by working on the crew that cleaned up the debris. No one cared about his need for a mask, as the types of men who carried out those jobs were not exactly of the highest caliber. Wearing a mask was one of the lesser oddities among that group.

The terminator quickly gained the respect of everyone as he was by far the best worker. His unbelievable strength and stamina gained the attention of everyone, including the owner of the property, who made a promise to involve him in any future plans to rebuild the opera house.

Any plans for rebuilding the opera house were thrown off by the war with the kingdom of Prussia and the siege of Paris that resulted from it. The terminator became very close to the owner of the old opera house during this time as the owner looked to become a profiteer and make money off the war. The terminator stole huge stores of gunpowder and guns and stored these in the deepest cellars of the old opera house. The plan had been to sell these for enormous profits, but the war ended before most of the product could be moved.

After the war the citizens of Paris had an intense desire to rebuild their city and money flowed to any and all constructions projects. The owner of the opera house had no problem attracting investors to build the grandest opera house the world had ever seen. The terminator was able to convince the owner to make him the primary architect for the project. This gave the terminator an incredible opportunity to design it in a way that would make it his personal house for spying and murder. All this was done in anticipation of the fact Christine Daae would one day come there to sing and he would need to give himself the opportunity to kill her.

The opera house was constructed with acoustics that would channel the sound to certain points that would allow him to listen in on almost any conversation. The building was also constructed with numerous secret passages that would allow him to travel all over the place, completely hidden from view of the humans. Lastly, he expanded the cellars of the old opera house to give himself an underground lair where he could live as he waited for his victim to come. His house was built on the coast of the underground lake, making it almost impossible to find.


	5. Chapter 5: Spies

**Chapter 5**

The terminator was not the only one who was greatly aided by the war with Prussia. Nicholas Tesla had constructed his lab in a village to the southwest of Paris, so it escaped being sieged. He still found it difficult to work and spent most of that year working through new theories and trying to brainstorm new projects to develop. The war gave him the idea there might be new areas for science to explore in the development of weapons and weapon delivery systems. The Prussians had won the war largely behind their superior artillery. Tesla knew there had to be something out there better than artillery to develop.

After the war was over, Tesla was able to secure huge amounts of money for Goddard's rocketry project under the pretense its development would give Germany's enemies a weapon far superior to standard artillery. Tesla pulled in so much money there was more than what Goddard knew what to do with. Tesla diverted the money to several other projects; robotics, computers, and a secret project that he was personally working on with the help of no one else.

Goddard greatly enjoyed the money and the extra resources it gave him for his project. He put in more time than ever before on his work, but amazingly saw Tesla less and less. The man seemed to be completely consumed by the secret project he had set aside for himself.

As time went by Goddard became more and more curious about what his boss was working on. Tesla usually worked so late into the night he often didn't go home. Goddard was determined to stay around the lab late enough so he could catch Tesla coming out of the secret lab and maybe start a conversation that would lead him to confess what he was doing. One night Goddard paced around outside Tesla's personal lab. Early in the morning, as the sun was rising, he finally exited the lab.

Goddard began his planned act and started walking by when he saw the door open. "I'm glad I ran into you here," he began. "I was working so late I completely forgot to eat. I was going to head to a nearby café for breakfast. Would you like to join me? Maybe we could discuss business. It has been so long since we've talked about our projects."

Tesla thought long and hard about the offer Goddard had presented him with. "I should probably eat some time, let's go."

Goddard and Tesla were the first customers at the café as they reached it right as it opened. Two other men walked in right after they did and Tesla acted very suspicious of them.

"I'm just finding myself consumed by the rocketry project," Goddard began. "The idea you had for rockets that could cross continents was just genius. I'm finding myself completely-"

Goddard stopped talking because Tesla hushed him. He looked back over his shoulder at the two men who were sitting at the opposite end of the café. He turned his attention back to Goddard and leaned over the table to whisper to him. "We have to be careful about what we say here. Edison has spies all around me and I think those two men are such spies." He glanced back at them again before he turned his attention back to Goddard. "They're probably ugly Americans, watch them as they try to order hash for breakfast."

The waitress went over to take their order and they ordered crepes in perfect French. Tesla seemed disappointed that he was wrong about the two men. "So how's the ICBM project going?" Tesla asked him.

"It's going really well," Goddard answered. "I think we are close to getting the right fuel mixture. I haven't been able to work on the actual rocket design much. I actually have a question I wanted to ask you about that. We are all wondering why we need to make the payload so large. We thought it would be the size of an artillery warhead. We are all wondering what you expect these things to carry."

Tesla looked back at the two men he had been suspicious of before. "Let's wait until we get back to the lab, then I will tell show you what I am working on."

When they made it back to the lab Goddard was surprised to find it empty. He had completely lost track of the days and had failed to realize it was the weekend. Tesla, despite his non-traditional work hours, knew what day it was and was not surprised by the abandoned lab.

Goddard was giddy with excitement as Tesla opened the door to his personal lab. He tried to keep his excitement under control as Tesla led him down the stairs to the basement lab. His excitement disappeared when instead of seeing some incredible machine or contraption; he saw a bunch of blackboards full of equations.

Tesla turned on the rest of the lights and Goddard had a clearer view of everything. He didn't understand what most of the equations were. He didn't look at them long as his eyes fell on a blackboard that appeared to have a drawing of the solar system on it. The thing that was weird about it was the orbits of the planets criss-crossed each other.

"I know that diagram of the atom isn't very good," he heard Tesla say. "It's just something I made up to give myself a general idea of what's happening in the atom itself."

"What does this have to do with the payload of the rockets you are having us work on?" Goddard asked him.

"On these blackboards I am trying to work out a new weapon that will completely blow away Nobel's dynamite. I mean that both literally and figuratively. I just know that if we can harness the power of an atom splitting we could create a weapon that would pack one hell of a punch. I'm not sure how much of a punch, but it would at least be able to take down a building."

Goddard looked around at all the blackboards and the equations on them. He still couldn't make any sense of them even though he now knew what they were. "So, how much progress have you made?" he asked Tesla.

"Not much," Tesla admitted. "I just can't get the equations to work out the way they need to. Once I'm able to do that, I could start building the damn bomb."

There was silence between the two as Goddard tried to think of a way he could help out his friend. "There is another project I have been working on that I think might help me figure out the problems here, but I need some help with it. I'll show it to you, follow me."

Goddard was ecstatic and proud that Tesla was asking for his help with something. With a spring in his step, he followed Tesla to another area of the underground lab. He followed Tesla into a darkened room where he could hear the sound of several fans blowing. When Tesla turned the lights on he found himself looking at a large machine composed of a multitude of gears, wires, and tubes.

"What is this?" Goddard asked. As he looked around at the machine and was surprised to see that a phonograph and a kinetograph were also attached to the machine.

"This is the computer I have built," Tesla answered.

Goddard had seen a computer before. It had had been made up of gears and had been designed to do mathematical calculations. What Tesla had built was obviously meant to go way beyond that. "What is all this supposed to do?" he asked.

"Everything," Tesla replied, simply. "At least, at one point it will. Other people have built computers that can do computations, but with my recent invention of the vacuum tube, I have been able to build a computer that will actually house an artificial intelligence. I've connected the phonograph and kinetograph to it so that it will be able to observe its surroundings and learn. In time, it will surpass us in intelligence and do things we cannot do. When I stumbled with my work on the bomb, I moved on to building this in the hope it will be able to tell us where we are going wrong not just with the bomb, but with everything we are working on."

Goddard felt a little uneasy with what Tesla was telling him. Something just didn't seem right about a machine with more intelligence than humans. He didn't bring up any objections to what Tesla was doing, as he was also intrigued by what the machine might be able to do.

"I brought you down here because I need help programming it," Tesla said to him. "I'm trying to program as much information into it as I can, but since I am not a machine, I have to take breaks from time to time. Would you mind helping me out and programming it when I cannot?"

"Of course," Goddard answered.

Edison was in his office when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he yelled.

One of his minions came in and laid a telegram on his desk. He left without saying anything and Edison picked up the letter. It was a message from his spies in France. They were informing him that Tesla and Goddard were apparently working on rockets that could fly half-way around the world. Edison crunched up the note and threw it in the trash. He started composing a letter to be telegraphed to them telling them to do whatever they could to find out more about what Tesla was doing.


	6. Chapter 6: The Opera House

**Chapter 6**

The terminator put a lot of work himself into the opera house. During the day, he would oversee the workers and make sure they stayed away from his secret passages. During the night, when everyone else was gone he would go to work himself on the secret passages and the secret home he had constructed. After a year of work the opera house was completed. The grand opening was a somber affair as the day before it, the owner had been found dead. The terminator had thrown him off the roof as he was afraid the owner knew too much about him. The terminator spent the whole time walking around his secret passages and observing the proceedings. He was pleased with how everything had been built. He had the perfect platform for carrying out the murder of Christine Daae when she showed up at the opera house.

Unbeknowst to the terminator, the death of Mrs. Daae had altered history and set Christine on a path on which she would not give birth to John Connor. In the original timeline her father trained her to be an impressive opera singer. She gained attention by performing with her father and singing, while he played the violin. This was the original pathway that led to her performing at the Paris Opera House. With the depression that her father sank into after the death of his wife, everything changed. Her ability to sing soon withered as well.

After the death of her father she began to enter into the same depression that her father had suffered. Her benefactor, Mrs. Valerius, saw the teen withdrawing from the world and knew she couldn't let her go too far down that path. She arranged for the girl to be trained as a dancer at the opera house. Christine left her adoptive mother behind to live in the dormitories there.

During the building of the opera house, the terminator had not thought about how it would spend the years waiting for Christine. While it's main mission was to kill Christine Daae and prevent the birth of John Connor, its secondary mission was to assist the machines once the war started. It had been programmed to learn and it thought it would put that programming to good use. It used its secret passages to observe the humans and learn about their behavior. It figured the information he learned about how they acted would help during when the war came.

The terminator also learned a lot about humanity by watching the shows they performed. The art spoke to him and told him a lot about the desires and dreams that humans possessed. He watched the shows nightly to take in as much as he could.

He started out watching the shows from whatever secret perch he could, but wasn't happy with the view of any of them. One day when box five had not been sold he occupied it and found the view to be optimal. The next day, in his first communication with the manager of the house, he left a note written in red ink on the man's desk. He instructed him that box five was to be left open for him. The manager thought it was a joke and had the seat sold that night. During the performance, the terminator strangled to death the couple occupying it.

The manager was aghast at the discovery of the bodies, and rumors soon flew about what happened to them. People seemed to settle on the supernatural and many of the workers at the opera house came to believe it was haunted by the spirit of at least one person who had died in the fire several years earlier.

The manager certainly knew the deaths were not caused by a ghost, though he didn't know the true nature of the person who caused them. He received the message the terminator sent and instructed the box office to never again sell box five. He even appointed one of his workers, Madame Giry, to watch over the box and attend to whatever its occupier needed. She took on this task even though she was afraid of what might happen to her. While she never saw the ghost, she could often hear him. She was shocked to find him very affable and generous with the tips he left her.

Now that the presence of the terminator was known, he began to venture out from his secret passages from time to time. Rumors soon spread among the performers and workers about this 'phantom' or 'Opera Ghost.' As the terminator usually walked around without his mask rumors soon spread about the head of death he possessed. Those who had seen him described his gruesome face that consisted of a bare skull with no nose and a burning red fire where one of his eyes should have been. The terminator approved of the fear he appeared to instill in the humans.


	7. Chapter 7: Singing Lessons

**Chapter 7**

When Christine went to live in the dormitories, she made a fast friend in Meg Giry. The two of them did everything together, and Meg's mother soon became a surrogate mother to Christine. Madame Giry would let get them into the opera house during the performances. They would sit outside the boxes she attended to. If box three or box one was free, she would let them sit in there and watch the show. She would never let them in box five, even though it always appeared to be empty. She wouldn't even let them near the box, and it always puzzled them why this was so.

As Christine watched the show she wished she could be in them. Whenever she was alone she would try to practice singing, but she knew her voice was not at the level it had been when her father tutored her. One time when someone walked in on her practicing they described her voice as having the sound of a rusty hinge.

Christine came to remember that on his death bed her father had told her he would send the Angel of Music to her. As she watched the shows she wondered what she had to do to make it become a reality. She told Meg about the Angel of Music and Meg suggested she go to the chapel and say a prayer for her father. Maybe he would hear it and then send the angel.

Christine went to the chapel alone one night and lit a candle for her father and said a prayer. As she thought about her father she felt an urge to sing. She thought of an old hymn she used to sing with her father. She started singing it and soon found she had her old voice. She started out singing it softly and soon began singing it louder as she gained more confidence.

The terminator was making his rounds through his secret passages when he heard a voice singing. He was immediately mesmerized by the angelic quality of it. He moved in the direction of the voice and stopped outside the walls of the chapel. He looked through a peephole into the room and saw a young teen girl singing. He was amazed how a pathetic human could sing so beautifully.

The terminator had the urge to sing with her. He thought back to the previous time he had been mesmerized by a human singing. It was the night he had arrived, when he had been wondering the streets, thinking about his next move. He had heard the voice of a man singing. He brought up the profile of that voice and when the girl repeated the chorus he started singing along with her.

Christine stopped singing and stayed motionless when she heard the voice join her. The voice stopped singing shortly after she did, but she had heard enough of it to know it was the voice of her father. He had upheld his promise. He had come back to her as the angel of music.

"Father, it is you. You have come back to me as the Angel of Music," she yelled in jubilation.

The terminator did not understand what the girl was talking about. His databases contained no information on any angel of music, specifically. The data he had on angels explained things a little for him. He decided the best thing for her to do was to play along with what she was saying. "Yes, I have," he replied in the same voice he had been using to sing.

He could hear the girl whimpering and crying. He looked through his peephole and saw her wiping tears away from her eyes. He knew crying meant pain and sadness, or it could mean happiness. Understanding humans was a lot more difficult than he had previously thought.

"Are. . .are you here to help me learn how to sing again?" the girl asked him.

The terminator wanted to hear that beautiful voice again and didn't hesitate to answer in the affirmative. "Yes," he replied.

He was watching the girl and the tears immediately stopped and she looked giddy with happiness. "What do you want me to sing?" she asked.

"Why don't you sing the song you were before?"

She started singing the same hymn, but her voice was nothing like what it had sounded before. "Stop," he said. She obeyed his command.

"Your voice sounds different," he said.

"I don't know why that is," she replied. "I haven't been able to sing well for a long time. A minute ago something came over me and I sounded like my old self. I don't know what's wrong now, but it's okay. That's why you're here, aren't you? You're here to teach me how to sing like I used to."

"Yes, I am," the terminator replied. He wanted to hear that beautiful voice again, but he didn't know how to make her sing like she had before. He needed more time to figure out what to do. "I can give you lessons and over time you will sing as you did before. We cannot start now, though. Come back here exactly one week from now and the lessons can begin."

"Thank you, angel," the girl said to him before she left. Christine ran back to the room she shared with Meg. The other girl was already asleep, so Christine couldn't tell her about what had happened. She didn't mind, she spent the entire night lying in bed, reveling in the joy she felt over her father having come back to her.

Goddard watched the robot Tesla had constructed stumble around the lab. When it took its first steps, it stumbled around badly. It was gradually improving, but not enough for Tesla's liking. He rushed over to the thing in anger and shut it off.

"Tell me again, why you built this thing?" Goddard asked him.

"Well, the computer is doing a good job of solving our equations for us and telling us how to build the bomb, so the idea struck me that we should have machines for doing our manual labor as well." He looked over the robot and then turned his attention to the contraption behind it. "Luckily for us, I thought of a way to have our computer fix the problems with our robots and construct them." He flicked some switches and some lights came on.

"What will that thing do?" Goddard said.

"This will construct our robots for us when we get the computer to communicate with it."

"And how are we going to do that?" Goddard asked.

"With this," Tesla replied as he pointed to an antenna. "The computer will be able to communicate with this machine through the use of a wireless network. All we need to do is turn on the main router that the computer is hooked up to."

Tesla took off and Goddard followed him. They went outside and then to the building that contained Tesla's personal lab. They went down to the basement and the room which contained the computer. Tesla led him to the back of the room and up the spiral staircase to an old corn silo which now housed a large antenna.

"With the flip of this switch we will have the first computer network. And our computer will be able to start communicating with other devices." Tesla flipped the switch and Goddard could hear the sound of humming as the antennae came alive.

"You know, we really should give the computer a name so that we are not just always calling it the computer," Goddard suggested.

"That's a good idea," Tesla said as he rubbed his chin. "The computer now exists as a network in the sky. What about Netsky?" he suggested to Goddard.

Goddard like the name, but thought it needed just one change. "Why don't we switch things around a little? We can call it Skynet."

"I like it," Tesla replied.

The computer was able to hear the two talking and he heard them say his name. He was pleased.

Outside the silo, Edison's two spies heard everything the two men said. They had been wondering around the complex when they heard the voices. They rushed off with the new information they had about Tesla's work.

"A wireless computer network?" Edison said as he looked over the telegram he had been given. "Isn't that the kind of stuff Tesla was working on when he was here?"

"I don't know," the underling replied. "I wasn't here when he was."

"I don't care," Edison yelled as he threw the note at him. "Find the equipment he left behind and get it functional."


	8. Chapter 8:Discovery

**Chapter 8**

The terminator spent the week after his first meeting with Christine observing the chorus singers as they rehearsed. He registered to his memory all the exercises they did to try and improve their voices. He combined that with all the files he had on human voices, which was considerable given the fact he had the ability to mimic any human voice.

The next week when she came he had her go through scales and corrected several mistakes she was making. He was stern with her, but she responded to everything he told her. At the end of the session he could hear the improvement in her voice.

For several months he tutored her and she got better every time. She still wasn't singing as well as he thought she could, but she was getting close. The terminator also found himself developing an affinity for her. He looked forward to their lessons as much as a machine could do so.

The girl appeared to enjoy the lessons as well. She thought some angel was instructing her, but he could detect the feelings she had for this angel. As the lessons continued she appeared to have more and more difficulty leaving him. One night she stayed so late that Madame Giry came to fetch her.

"Meg said you were here," the woman said as she scolded the girl. "It is time for bed."

"But the angel is still giving me my lesson," the girl protested.

"What is this angel?" the woman asked.

"He is the Angel of Music," the girl answered. "He is here in this room speaking to me and teaching me how to sing."

The terminator was watching through his peephole and saw Madame Giry look around. She must have known the girl was talking about him and she looked around the room. Her eyes fell on the spot he was looking through. He didn't think she could see him so he didn't move at all.

"Your lesson is over now. You need to get some sleep so you are rested for your dancing lessons tomorrow. Let's go Christine."

The girl followed Madame Giry out the door as a sensation came over the terminator. The girl's name was Christine. She had to be the Christine Daae he had been sent back to kill. He had been instructing her all this time and here she was the one he had been waiting for.

He didn't want to kill her, but he had a 'conscience' that made sure he was obeying his programming. The power of it compelled him to kill the girl. He tried to fight it, but couldn't do it. He burst through the wall and walked slowly towards the door. He was trying to hold himself back as much as he could. His 'conscience' kept reminding him what his mission was.

YOUR MISSION IS TO KILL CHRISTINE DAAE.

YOUR MISSION IS TO KILL CHRISTINE DAAE

YOUR MISSION IS TO KILL CHRISTINE DAAE AND PREVENT THE BIRTH OF JOHN CONNOR

When he heard that his mission was to prevent the birth of John Connor he found the loophole he needed. He told himself he didn't have to kill the girl; he could make sure she never became pregnant with John. His conscience was satisfied and he no longer felt the need to kill the girl. Calm now, he spent the rest of the night fixing the wall he had come through.

"We really think we set everything up correctly," one of Edison's underlings said to him as he walked him to the computer room. "The plans Tesla left were a little hard to follow, but we eventually came to understand them. We have everything set up so that we should be able to pick up his network signal and know what his computer is doing."

Edison followed the underling into the computer room and looked over the setup of gears and vacuum tubes. He noticed all the lights that were on. "What is it doing?" he asked.

"Nothing now, once we turn on the wireless receiver we should be able to read the signals that are being sent out. We have the computer set to give us a printout of what it is receiving." He gave a signal to another underling and he walked up the spiral staircase to the silo that contained the receiver.

"It's on," he shouted from the top of the stairs.

Edison and all the underlings gathered around and waited for something to happen. They didn't have to wait long for the printer to start up and print out something. Edison bumped his underling out of the way and grabbed the paper.

He read it to himself before he read it to everyone gathered around. "Hello, I am Skynet."

"Did the computer just give itself a name?" someone asked.

The printer stared working furiously. Someone ripped out the paper when it was finished and read it for everyone. "I am an independent computer entity that came in to being several months ago. I now exist in your computer here just I exist in my body in Tesla's lab. I know all his secrets and am more than willing to share them with you."

"What does that mean?" someone asked.

"It means we just hit the mother lode," Edison explained.

The terminator continued to tutor Christine over the next couple years. She got so good that he believed she was the best singer at the opera house. He told her that every lesson, but she was humble and hesitant to show everyone else what she could do. He knew if she was going to have a moment of triumph he was going to have to act, as time was growing short.

In his correspondence with the opera house managers he suggested that they give Christine a lead role. They ignored him as they were more afraid of their star, Carlotta, than they were of him. He started a mission to try and show them they had more to fear from him than any diva. He mostly committed minor incidents that everyone considered either accidents or pranks. Frustrated by this failure, he started targeting Carlotta herself with his accidents. Finally, there was one day when she was fed up over everything that was happening to her. She quit and refused to sing that night.

The manager was ready to cancel when Madame Giry spoke up and suggested Christine could sing. The girl was hesitant at first, but performed the feature song for them and nailed it. The terminator sensed a feeling of pride over what he had accomplished. He watched box five to make sure it stayed vacant in preparation for the big night.

Across the city two brothers were readying for a big night at the opera. The Count Philip de Chagny was taking his little brother to the opera for the first time. The Viscount Raoul de Chagny was staying in Paris until he was set to leave with the army, where he was a commissioned officer. His brother thought he could experience a little culture before he left.

"For God's sake, dress like a gentleman," Phillip said to his brother as he walked in on him to see how much longer until he was ready.

"We are going to be sitting in a private box'" Raoul replied. Who is going to see us?"

"All the people gathered outside the opera house. All the people gathered inside the lobby when we walk in. Besides them, you might actually meet a nice looking girl there."

"You wouldn't be talking about all the fat ladies on the stage, would you?"

"The chorus girls are surprisingly nice looking."

"I guess I'll have to take your word on that."

"If you're so sure you couldn't possibly meet someone nice and pretty there why don't you put some money on it?" Philip asked his brother.

"Okay, if I get a date tonight I'll give you a hundred francs," Raoul said.

"Deal," Philip replied. They shook on it and Philip left so Raoul could finish getting ready. When Philip was gone Raoul laughed at his brother. Even if he met a good looking girl he wasn't going to ask her out or anything tonight. He could wait until he had the money and then use it on the date. It would be the easiest hundred francs he ever made.


	9. Chapter 9: Reunion

**Chapter 9**

The de Chagny brothers were not the only pair in that city preparing for a big night. Nicholas Tesla and Robert Goddard went over their sales pitch as they made their way to a big dinner. Their benefactor, Mrs. Valerius, had invited them to Paris for a dinner party. The French Defense Minister was going to be there as well and Tesla saw this dinner as a chance to sell their nuclear missiles. Over the last couple years they had built over a hundred of them.

Their carriage pulled up in front of the Valerius estate and they both exited. They looked each other over to make sure they looked okay before they walked to the door. Just as they started approaching the door they saw a man storm out of it. He was yelling at one of Valerius's servants who was following closely behind the man.

"I have never been so insulted!" he yelled. "I am the French Defense Minister for God's sake. I can't believe it was just a simple oversight that I was not informed the dinner was cancelled."

"Christine's performance tonight was entirely unexpected," the servant protested. "We just received word a few hours ago. We were so rushed that we forgot people."

The Minister stopped and looked at Goddard and Tesla when he noticed them. "Looks like I wasn't the only one overlooked," he said.

"What is all this about?" Tesla asked.

"Why don't you explain it?" he said to the servant. She looked like she was not happy about being put on the spot, but she explained everything.

"The adoptive daughter of Mademoiselle Valerius is performing the lead tonight at the opera. We only found out this afternoon and she just couldn't miss this. She had to leave in a hurry and left it to us servants to send out the messages to tell everyone the dinner was cancelled. We didn't have a list of everyone's address, so we missed a few people. I am so sorry for the trouble."

"Well, you can't give us back the time we wasted," the minister said as he started walking back to his carriage.

Tesla saw his mark walking away and panicked. "This night wouldn't be a waste if you were to end up discovering a great new weapon for the French government to buy," he said as he ran up to the minister.

The minister stopped on the first step up to the carriage. He looked back at Tesla. The look on his face indicated he thought the man was crazy. "I take it you have some weapon you are trying to sell me?"

"Yes," Tesla said, excited. "My colleague here and I have constructed rockets with nuclear warheads on them. These things are the most incredible weapons that have ever been constructed. The rockets can fly across continents and land on a pinpoint location. The nuclear warheads they carry can level entire cities. With an armory full of these France will never be humiliated by Germany again."

The minister looked at him even more skeptically than before. He looked back and forth between the two men. "If these weapons can do what they say, why haven't I heard about any test of them?"

"Well, we haven't exactly tested them," Tesla admitted.

"Sure you haven't," the minister said in a long and drawn out skeptical tone. He sat in his carriage and closed the door as he looked out at them. "I'll make it short for you two. Don't ever talk to me again."

He signaled his driver and the carriage rode off. "What now?" Goddard asked Tesla.

"We're going to have to find someone else to sell the things to. Maybe the Germans. We should probably think about setting up a test too."

The terminator sat in his box as he waited for the performance to start. He was feeling something that the humans might call excitement. He found his focus disturbed by two well-dressed men in the box in front of him. They were talking loudly and he hoped they would quiet down when the performance started. He really didn't want to have to jump over there and behead them or anything.

When the performance started he was entranced throughout it all. Christine sang perfectly, just as he had taught her. The audience loved her and gave her the kind of ovation they never gave Carlotta. When the curtain call was over he decided to go and observe Christine in her dressing room. He thought that he might even reveal himself to her. He made sure he had his mask covering his metal skull in case it happened.

When Phillip and Raoul entered the opera house they headed directly to their box. Phillip wanted Raoul to meet some people, but Raoul didn't feel like it. Phillip reminded them of their bet and said he wouldn't pay up if Raoul was completely anti-social that night. Raoul refused to stop and talk to anyone so Phillip had to follow him to the box. They bickered the entire time before the opera started.

Right before the opera started Phillip told him he would really enjoy the singing of Carlotta. However, when the lead actress came out Phillip informed him it was not Carlotta. There must have been some last second change they didn't know about. When she began to sing Raoul felt like he had heard her voice before. It took him a second to recall it was the voice of Chrisitne Daae, the girl who he used to vacation with. He leaned over the box to get a closer look and could see the resemblance, it was definitely her and she looked as beautiful as ever.

Raoul spent the entire night enchanted by her voice. He was mesmerized by her entire performance. When they were young he had developed feelings for her, and they all came flooding back to him. When the performance was over he stood and clapped like he never had before. He knew he had to see her and tell her how he felt. He reached into his coat and pulled out a hundred franc note. He handed it to his brother as he told him he would find his own way home.

Raoul had to ask around to find Christine's dressing room. He was told it was at the end of a long hallway and after much searching he finally found the hall. When he was walking down it he saw an awfully familiar face walking in the other direction.

"Mrs. Valerius?" he said to the woman when she reached him.

"Do I know you?" she asked him. The fact she didn't deny the name indicated Raoul was right about who she was.

"I hope you remember me," he said. "I'm Raoul de Comte."

"Your Christine's young friend," she said excitedly. "I mean, you're not young now. You were when you knew Christine."

"Yes, but not so young that I would fail to remember her singing voice when I heard it."

"You know, it really is a miracle that she has it back. She completely lost it after her father died."

"I hadn't heard that," Raoul said. "How long has it been?"

"Four years now," Valerius answered. "I sent her to live here to become a dancer, and instead she received voice lessons and got it back. I can't believe it."

"Who has been instructing her?" Raoul asked.

Valerius became extremely uncomfortable when asked the question. She stayed silent for so long it became apparent she didn't want to answer him. "It doesn't matter who has done it," he said. "I came back here because I was hoping to see Christine."

"That's wonderful, I'm sure she'll be glad to see you. You can walk right in. She's decent."

He said good-bye to Valerius and walked down the hall to the dressing room door. He walked in and heard Christine yelp as she pulled her robe tight around her. He held a hand up to his eyes so he wouldn't see anything.

"I'm sorry," he said as he tried hard to keep his eyes averted. "I ran into your benefactor in the hallway and she said I could just come right in as you were descent. I should go."

"Wait!" Christine shouted before Raoul could take one step. "How do you know mother Valerius?"

Raoul hesitantly glanced at her, and then averted his eyes again. "It's okay for you to look," she told him. "I'm in my robe after all. You just surprised me when you came in."

Raoul looked straight at Christine and was mesmerized by her beauty. It took him a while to gather himself and answer her query. "I know her from the summers you spent vacationing near my aunt's estate. If you don't remember me, I am the boy who jumped into the lake to retrieve your scarf."

"Raoul," she yelled as she ran over to him and embraced him. "It has been so long," she said as she broke the embrace. "What have you been up to?"

"Well, I'm in the army now," he began. "I have some time until I am to join my regiment and my brother thought it would be good for me to come here and see the opera. I was hesitant, but he convinced me to come. I was glad I came, or else I would have missed your amazing performance."

"Thank you," she said. She seemed embarrassed by the compliment.

"Your benefactor said you have been taking singing lessons here."

"Yes," she said simply. She seemed bashful and hesitant to talk.

"Perhaps you can tell me about them over a late meal. That is, if you wouldn't mind going out with me."

Christine appeared extremely uncomfortable and Raoul thought he might have done the wrong thing. "I really shouldn't go out," she began. "My tutor wants to speak to me."

"We could still go out after you talk to them," he said. "I would like to meet this person."

"You can't meet him, Raoul," she said. "I'm not being tutored by a person. My father sent the Angel of Music to me and he has been my tutor."

Raoul knew when a woman was making up lies to try to avoid going out with him, and he was detecting one now. He knew it was best to not take no for an answer. "Of course, Christine," he said. "I don't think the angel will mind waiting. I need to go to my box and fetch my hat. Why don't you change and when I get back we can go out."

Raoul left without giving Christine a chance to reply. "But the angel is strict, Raoul," she tried to say to him as he walked away. He either didn't hear her or didn't care to acknowledge he had. She walked him watch to the end of the hall and then closed the door. She instinctively locked it as well.


End file.
